Stay With Me
by MaggieGirl
Summary: Peri Michaud is a new member of the Order of the Phoenix. Story follows her experiences as a stranger that suddenly comes upon life in Grimmauld Place. Rating may rise.
1. Chapter 1

"MINJONET MORWENNA MICHAUD! I AM VERY DES-A-PON-TED IN 'OU! ZEES WEEL NOT DO! JOHN WAS MAGNIFIQUE GENTLEMEN AND 'OU NEED 'USBAND! FIND A MAN, OR I WEL FIND ONE FOR 'OU! JE VOUS AIME! AU REVOIR!" The howler curled into ashes and my face turned the same shade as my coworker's hair.

"Your mother, I presume?" Arthur said, trying not to look too amused. "I never knew your first name was Minjonet."

"Minjonet is much too fancy for me. I prefer Peri," I said, wrinkling my nose at my real name. "It was the name of my great aunt…and my eye color, periwinkle."

"So I'm assuming your blind date with the bloke from that apothecary didn't go well," Arthur said.

"Yes…my mère's very anxious for grandkids as you could tell," I said, returning my attention to the paperwork I had been doing before the howler came. "Although I'd personally try to wait until I reach my thirties at least."

"Peri, I'm having difficulty with this thing. What are all these numbers for?" Arthur said, poking at a calculator. I rolled my eyes. It was going to be another long day.

I was taking a bathroom break when two women came in and started arguing. Curious, I placed a Disillusionment charm on myself and listened in.

"You almost blew it back there!" a woman's voice snarled, and I heard someone being pushed against the wall. "You can't go spilling your guts out to everyone! Do you want to be caught? Is that it? IS THAT IT!" The other person whimpered. "Listen to yourself! And you call yourself a Death Eater! Every time that mark burns, you squeal like a coward! You shouldn't even have that mark. Come on now, let's go. And don't goof off again."

"Arthur!" I rushed into the office as soon as I could. "Arthur, something happened—"

"Calm down, Peri. Now tell me—"

"There are Death Eaters in the building and I heard—"All of a sudden, Arthur put a silencing charm on me.

"Don't yell! You know they don't like hearing rubbish about the Dark Lord! Now what is this nonsense?" Arthur lifted the charm and I went over and put my hands flat on his desk and looked him straight in the eye.

"Listen, Arthur, I 'heard them correctly in there. They distinctly talked about being Death' Eaters and their marks burning. Now if You-Know-Who is back like Dumbledore says—"

"You would take the word of Albus Dumbledore?" Arthur said.

"Well—yes—I've never known 'him to tell an outrageous lie—"

"Come with me," Arthur said shortly and I followed him out of our office door. I wondered where he was going to take me. Was he going to get me sacked? Was he going to take me to the Minister himself? Was he going to lock me in a broom closet?

…Well…a broom closet would probably be an upgrade from our current office…

I found that he was leading me towards the Auror offices. Probably to get a good lecture, no doubt. Thank God Umbridge is at Hogwarts, she'd probably have me carve stuff into my hand if she was still here. We walked into Kingsley Shacklebolt's office and the man looked up at us as we entered.

"Could we have a word with you, Shacklebolt? It seems we need to set things in order," Arthur said. Oh great, another lecture.

"In order, you say?" Shacklebolt said. Arthur nodded. "Very well." He shut the door with his wand and conjured chairs for us to sit.

"Michaud seems to believe that Death Eaters were present today at the Ministry." Shacklebolt seemed to study me closely.

"When and where did this occur?" Shacklebolt asked me.

"Not long ago in the women's bathrooms on this floor." There was a long silence.

"Did they say anything in particular?" I told them exactly what I had told Arthur. After I finished talking, they exchanged looks.

"We won't report you, but answer us this question: Do you believe Albus Dumbledore when he says that the Dark Lord has returned?"

"Yes," I said defiantly.

"Thank you, Michaud, you may go back to work now and tell no one of this." I hurried back to the office. When I clocked out, Arthur still had not returned.

I returned home to my flat after work and plopped down in front of the television with a bowl of Butter Lover's popcorn. My mother had a TV when I was young so that she could keep up with her French and/or keep me quiet. I flipped to a show about singing Muggles and settled in.

It wasn't even half an hour when there was a knock on my door. I groaned and got up to check who it was. I was not suspecting to see none other than the Hogwarts headmaster himself through the peephole.

"Ohmyohmaohmy…" I dashed in front of the mirror to make sure that I didn't look like crap, took a deep breath and then opened the door.

"Good evening. Minjonet Michaud, I presume?" Dumbledore said, offering a hand in greeting. I shook it.

"Yes sir, but I go by Peri. Please come in and sit down. Sorry if it's a little untidy', I just came 'home." I led him to my small sitting area and waited until he sat down in my fluffy armchair before I sat on the sofa across from him. He took a look around.

"You may be wondering why I'm here," Dumbledore said.

"I'm thinking it 'as to do wit' what I told Shacklebolt and Weasley," I said.

"Yes. You said you saw Death Eaters at the Ministry?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes—well—'heard them actually," I said.

"Do you believe Voldemort is back?" He asked. I jumped visibly at the mention of 'Voldemort.'

"If Death' Eaters are showing themselves again…yes," I said. I wondered what this was all about.

"Would you be willing help defeat the Dark side of magic if Voldemort has risen to power?" Dumbledore asked, gazing at me over his half-moon spectacles. I paused before answering.

"I would do anything I could to 'help stop him," I said. Dumbledore clapped his hands together.

"Good," He said. "Now, I'm going to ask you something up front: would you be willing to partake in a…alliance, if you will—which purpose is to seek out those associated with the Dark Lord and…well…prevent them from spreading evil."

I stared at him, wide-eyed for a while, trying to process what he just said. He waited for me by fiddling with my television remote.

"Does this—alliance—have the approval of the Ministry?" I asked, unsure.

"Does the Ministry give approval of having views about Voldemort returning?" Dumbledore countered. I thought about it for a moment.

"'How many are involved in it?"

"Quite a few. But still, we need all the help we can get," Dumbledore said.

"If we can 'help eliminate the evils in the world while the Ministry turns its back on it all…then I'm in," I said boldly.

"Excellent! Our next meeting is in an hour. Shall I escort you to our headquarters?" Dumbledore said.

"Wh—now?" I asked, quite surprised.

"Do you have any plans?"

"Well—no, but I—"

"Excellent, then! I expect you'll want to change first, so I'll just wait right here," Dumbledore said. I opened my mouth to protest, and then shut it again and went to my room to change. When I came back out again, I found Dumbledore had figured out how the remote worked and was watching a group of young Muggles break dancing.

"If I did any of that, I would surely break something," Dumbledore commented. I smiled. He jumped up. "Well, shall we adjourn?"

"Yes, Sir."

We Apparated outside a group of Muggle houses. The street was dark and deserted as I followed Dumbledore to where ever we were going. Suddenly he stopped and gave me a piece of parchment.

"Memorize this, please," he said. I looked down and read it and then looked up. A large house had appeared from between two Muggle houses.

"Welcome to number twelve, Grimmauld Place," Dumbledore said, making his way to the door. He knocked and immediately the door opened.

"Albus," Arthur Weasley inclined his head in greeting "And I see you've brought along Peri!" He stepped aside to let us in and then shut the door after us. I followed Dumbledore and Arthur until we reached a room full of people. The kitchen, I guess. A plump red-haired woman hurried toward us.

"Molly, this is Peri from the office. Peri, this is my wife, Molly," Arthur introduced.

"Pleased to meet you dear, won't you take a seat?" Molly said, pulling a chair out for me.

"Thank you," I said, smiling. Dumbledore took his place at the head of the table and the noise died down.

"First of all, we have a new member of the Order of the Phoenix here tonight. Please welcome Minjonet Michaud, better known as Peri." I turned a considerable shade of red as miscellaneous smiles and greetings came my way before Dumbledore continued.

It turns out that the Order has made quite a few accomplishments unknown to the Ministry. I listened with interest as Dumbledore spoke and wondered vaguely what I would be doing.

"Don't go yet, Peri, there are several people to meet!" Arthur said to me after the meeting. Some people had already left, but Arthur led me around to those still lingering.

"This is Emmeline Vance right here…Kingsley you've already met…right here is Nymphadora Tonks—"

"Just Tonks!" a witch with spiky pink hair said. I vaguely remember that she was in the same year as me at Hogwarts. Arthur just smiled and led me over to a group of men conversing.

"Good evening, gentlemen, this is Peri, the newest member of the Order." The men stopped their conversation just long enough to introduce themselves.

"Alastor Moody, but folks call me Mad-Eye," a rough-looking Auror said.

"Remus Lupin, pleased to meet you," a stately-looking man in tattered-looking robes said. The third man stepped up and I nearly had a heart attack.

"Sirius Black…you don't have to look all shocked, though, I'm not really a killer…" Sirius said.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Sirius, I forgot to tell her…" Arthur said. He turned to me. "Sirius did not betray Lily and James after all. It was Peter Pettigrew, who made it look as if Sirius had killed him." I had the same dumbfounded look as I had earlier in my apartment.

"Um…right," I said, nodding as if I understood. Sirius laughed.

"I never get tired of seeing their faces when they find out I'm innocent!" he said. Tonks came up to me while Sirius kept on laughing.

"Come join us girls, I see my cousin's being ridiculous again," she whispered. We slipped away from the group quietly and went to join Molly and Emmeline Vance. They were busy talking about household maladies, so Tonks turned to me.

"You work with Arthur, right?" she asked. I nodded. "Ah, that explains why I've never seen you before. I'm always out working some nasty Auror job."

"Just wondering, what 'house were you in at 'Hogwarts?" I asked.

"Gryffindor. You were in Hufflepuff, Right?" Tonks asked.

"Yeah. I remember you were a chaser on your 'house team and you were good at changing your appearance without a wand. I never tried out for Quidditch though, I was just a spectator," I said. Gosh, it felt good to talk with someone your age. We talked about more stuff like what type of music we liked and what type of hobbies we did until we realized that almost everyone had gone and that the clock had struck twelve. Remus, Sirius, Arthur and Molly were the others left.

"My, it's late," Arthur yawned. Molly rolled her eyes and put her hand on her husband's shoulder and began to guide him out of the kitchen

"Off to bed with you. Goodnight, everyone," Molly said. There was an awkward silence as only four of us remained.

"I think I should be going now," I said, starting to get up from my chair.

"You don't have to go yet, Peri, the fun's just started!" Tonks said. "Stay with us and chat a while!"

So I did. We sort of continued where me and Tonks had left off and Sirius and Remus even recalled their old school days.

"I remember when we used one of Snivellus' hexes against him. There he was hanging upside down showing his knickers to everyone!" Sirius laughed. Remus chuckled quietly.

"You mean he didn't wear trousers under his robes?" Tonks said, looking revolted.

"Maybe 'e doesn't own trousers, perhaps?" I suggested. We all laughed. Before we knew it another hour had passed and we were still talking and laughing until late into the night.

"You look rough, Peri. Just how late did you stay up last night?" Arthur said when I walked into the office that morning.

"I dunno…I wouldn't be surprised if we 'ad all fallen asleep talking," I said, plopping into my chair and yawning.

"Well, I'm glad you're all getting along well," Arthur said, smiling.

"What've we got going on today?" I asked, getting to business.

"This one's a weird one. An old warlock says that someone's bewitched his old armchair and he can't sit in it without it throwing him around like he was in some sort of rodeo."

"Armchair rodeo. Interesting," I said as we headed over to check it out.

"And 'he's telling us about the chair and then 'e says 'you guys might want to sit down, this is a rather long story' so we sit down and it turns out that Arthur chose to sit in the bewitched armchair!" Tonks and Sirius bellowed with laughter while Remus and Molly tried to mask their laughter for poor Arthur. "So I'm running around trying to get the thing to stop and Arthur's going 'round and 'round trying to 'old on!"

"Yes, and it would have been an actual rodeo, except I was holding on with BOTH hands!" Arthur put in grinning amusedly. Everyone laughed.

"How did you get it to stop?" Sirius asked.

"Well, I kept throwing spell after spell, then the man yelled just to trash it, so I put a freezing charm on it. If you ask me, I should've done that in the first place," I said, shrugging at the last part.

"Are you French by any chance?" I looked around to see Remus scrutinizing me.

"Yes, my mere—mother—is French," I said. "How can you tell?"

"You have an accent…just a light one…" Remus said. I blushed.

"Oh…I guess I'm used to it…" I said.

"She does," Molly said, smiling at me. "She drops her H's just like Fleur does." I turned even redder.

"Say 'Thelma thwacked three hedges at three-thirty' three times fast," Sirius said.

"Sirius!" Molly sent him a death glare.

"…Sorry…"

"I think we're embarrassing her," Tonks said, imitating my shade of red. I laughed.

"Okay, let's talk about something else that doesn't have to do wit' French accents," I said, now self-aware of my accent.

"We can tell them what we did with the armchair afterwards…" Arthur suggested.

"Yes, that would be great…" I said.

Tonks, Sirius and Arthur had gone upstairs to get rid of some doxies that infested the shower curtain of a spare bathroom, which left Molly, Remus, and me to prepare dinner. Molly went about humming an old Celestina Warbeck song as she went about supervising various self-peeling vegetables. I was helping chop the peeled potatoes when Remus came to sit across from me at the table. He seemed fascinated by my chopping technique.

"I'm sorry if I humiliated you about your accent earlier," he said tentatively, as if I would pounce on him if he talked too boldly. I stopped chopping and looked at him.

"It's alright," I said "I was not 'humiliated."

"No, no, I could tell you were," Remus said, looking guilty.

"Remus." I looked him in the eye. "Don't worry. It's okay. It's not like being French is illegal." I smiled and winked at him. Finally he relaxed and even chuckled a little. Honestly, I think he could get worked up over nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

I was on my first Order mission with Tonks. We had been assigned to patrol some Muggle neighborhood that someone said they had seen old followers of You-Know-Who. Nothing interesting had happened so far, so we sat atop a picnic table at the park and talked for a while.

"I remember I dated a guy who had really bad taste in cologne. It was like every time he came too close, I had to hold my breath." Tonks said, laughing.

"That must have been horrible!" I said, wrinkling my nose. "I mostly dated younger guys when at Hogwarts…I haven't really been dating since then."

"Yeesh. And how many years is that?" Tonks asked. I blushed.

"Well, I did have a date with this one man last week, but we didn't go past one date…my mother sent me a Howler about it." I said, rolling my eyes. "She said 'John was magnifique gentleman and you need 'usband!' And she sent it while I was at work." Tonks laughed and then cringed.

"Oh, I would die of embarrassment if that happened to me! So your mother really wants grandchildren!" Tonks teased. I turned red.

"Well…she won't be getting any in this lifetime." I said. An owl landed between us and Tonks took the note from its beak and read it.

"I guess it's time to head back now." Tonks said.

"Thank goodness."

-

"Sirius, do I even want to know why you have stuff in your study that looks like…well…stuff a porn star would use?" I asked. Sirius shrugged.

"Ask Remus, he's the one with the bad 70's pornstache." He replied casually. Remus blinked in surprise and looked up from the book he was reading to glare and I had to duck out of the room and only return when I had stopped laughing.

"So," I said upon my return "Are there any good books in here or are they all dark?" Sirius shrugged.

"I was never one for reading…Remus probably already read through the whole lot by now." He said.

"Yes, for instance '101 Recipes with Minced Dog Meat' is very interesting." Remus said coolly. For some reason unknown to me, Sirius seemed to stop poking fun at Remus after that comment.

"Erm…I hear Buckbeak scuttling around up there…excuse me." Sirius ducked out of the room leaving me and Remus.

"What book is that?" I asked.

"It's called 'How to Tell If Your Friend is a Werewolf.' One suggestion is to play loud polka music while showering the werewolf with moldy shredded cheese."

"Does it specify what type of cheese?" I asked. He paused for a moment to check.

"No, actually." He said, raising his eyebrows.

"Ah. What if one type of cheese doesn't work? Maybe it's not moldy enough? And what if the werewolf happens to like polka?" I wondered aloud. Remus grinned.

"Then I guess you're just stuck with bad music, stale cheese…and a scruffy old werewolf." Remus said. "Then again, they might not even be a werewolf, and you find you're just harassing an innocent person." I laughed.

"Well…do you have any moldy shredded cheese handy?" I asked earnestly. He looked up.

"Why? Shall I put on an old polka record and shower you with cheese?" He said, sounding amused.

"Ah…well, if someone were to suddenly walk in, I think it would look very awkward." I said, smiling. I saw Remus suddenly turn a slight tinge of pink and he seemed too shy to meet my eyes for the rest of the night.


	3. Chapter 3

"Mama," I pleaded to the woman sitting in my kitchen. "Mama, please, I can't—"

"'Ou can and 'ou will!" My mother exclaimed. "Give John anot'er chance and if 'ou still don't like, t'en 'ou can move on! T'at is final!"

"But Mama—"

She put a silencing charm on me.

Mothers are hard to contradict when they want grandchildren.

-

I found myself sitting across from John Willis once again at a fairly decent restaurant. John really isn't a bad guy. It's just that I had an Order meeting that night. So, I was rather preoccupied with watching the time until when all of a sudden he pulled out a bouquet of periwinkles out of nowhere. One thing I couldn't resist was periwinkles.

"Oh, John! You shouldn't have!" I said, accepting them from him. He smiled.

"Of course I should've. Beautiful flowers for a beautiful woman." He said. I looked up and smiled sort of bashfully.

"Thank you. It was very sweet of you." I said. He gave me a striking grin and I swear I could have caught fire from all the blushing.

-

I had thirty minutes to get to Grimmauld place and yet I was still with John. I was almost arguing whether to stay a little bit longer with John or to go to the meeting. I decided that since I was a new member it would be best if I wasn't late or absent unless totally necessary.

"I hope you enjoyed tonight." He said after he had walked me back to my apartment.

"I did. It was all lovely." I said. He took my hand.

"Perhaps we can do this again sometime?" I smiled.

"I do hope so." I said. He reached up with his hand and gently caressed my cheek and then leaned in and we kissed. His tongue slowly slid along my lower lip and I opened my mouth to him. My arms had found their way around his neck and he was running his hands along my waist. He was starting to press me against the wall so I found myself again before we got carried away.

"I'm sorry, but I must go now." I said breathlessly. He caressed my cheek again.

"Goodnight, Peri." John said in the most tantalizing voice.

"Goodnight, John…don't hesitate to send an owl." We shared one last kiss and then he departed. I started to swoon and then looked down at my watch to see that I had no time for swooning. I had twenty minutes left!

"Ohmyohmyohmyohmyohmy!"

-

I bustled into the kitchen of Grimmauld place five minutes before the meeting was to start. I sat by Tonks, who eyed me curiously.

"What's got you smiling so much?" She asked. I blushed.

"Is it that obvious?" I said.

"Yes. Date, I'm guessing?" Tonks asked. I nodded. "Well that's cutting it a bit short now, isn't it?" I was about to respond when Dumbledore stood up to speak.

"Lately, we have received information that there have been suspicious Muggle deaths." Dumbledore said.

"How do we know that it is magic related and not Muggles doing it?" Kingsley Shacklebolt asked.

"Two Muggles were found dead outside the Meadow Stone flat building located on 5th street and Moonlight Desert…Flesh-eating slugs were found near their bodies."

I froze. My flat was in Meadow Stone.


	4. Chapter 4

I returned to my flat that night to see John waiting outside.

"John!" I said, surprised. "Why are you 'ere?" I hugged him.

"I'm surprised you haven't heard about it yet," he said. He looked up and down the hall. "Er, can we speak inside?"

"Um, sure." I let him in and we sat on the couch.

"Ministry members were outside your building. They found two dead Muggles and there were flesh-eating slugs on them. I don't know who'd want to do something like that. There haven't been any magical related Muggle deaths since—well—since You-Know-Who was in power."

Wrong.

"Actually, Muggles can come across certain bewitched items, like bewitched necklaces that can choke t'em…Maybe someone set some slugs loose," I suggested.

"Perhaps," John said. He took my hand. "The thing is…Ministry officials are going around to all witches and wizards living in the area to question them."

"Ah, great," I groaned. John lifted my hand to his lips and kissed it. I smiled at him.

"Do you want me to stay with you until they come?" he asked slyly. I giggled.

"Well…only if it does not inconvenience you," I purred.

"On the contrary..." he said, and inched closer to me on the couch.

-

--Meanwhile at Grimmauld Place--

"My cousin Martin just sent me an owl and said that The Ministry had just visited his house and started asking him all sorts of questions," Emmeline Vance said, walking back into the kitchen to rejoin the other remaining Order members.

"Peri said she lives in the building where they found the bodies outside," Tonks said. "I wonder if they've got to her yet."

"Poor thing," Molly said. "I hope they don't give her too much of a hard time."

"Knowing the Ministry, they probably will," Arthur said. "But don't worry, dear, she'll be fine."

"I hope so," Molly said, worried. "And if they try to hold something against her, they've got me to reckon with!"

-

The doorbell rang suddenly and we sprang apart. I jumped up and started fixing my hair while John went around looking through the peephole.

"It's them," he said. He turned to look at me and I let out a giggle. I tapped my wand gently on his face. "What's that for?"

"Getting rid of the lipstick smudges," I said. The doorbell rang again. I sighed and reluctantly opened the door. Two stern-looking men were standing outside.

"Miss Michaud, I am Reynold Thomson and this is Eeyore Scallop. We are here to interrogate you about the murder of two Muggles outside this building. May we come in?" The taller man, Thompson said.

"Um…yes. Please, sit down," I said. They walked in and cast John a look before sitting down. I sat in my armchair and John went to stand behind me.

"Miss Michaud, would you please tell us what you have been doing from 8:30 until now?" Scallop asked.

"Well…8:30 we were out on a date." I indicated John and me. "We first went to a restaurant a few blocks away and then went walking along t'e park with t'e duck pond and then came back 'ere."

"And you've been here ever since then?" Thomson asked.

"No, John walked me to my door and t'en I went inside to be ready to go to my friend's house…she hosts a book club sometimes," I said, hoping it was a good enough lie. I felt John smooth his fingers over my shoulder. I think he sensed my nervousness.

"You currently work in The Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, is that correct?" Scallop asked.

"Yes."

"How long have you worked there?" Thomson asked.

"About two 'ears now," I said.

"Thank you for your time. I am sorry if it brought you any inconvenience." And with that, they Disapparated.

-

"Are you sure this is the right one, Arthur?" Molly Weasley asked, looking nervously up and down the hall. Molly insisted on checking up on Peri, so Arthur took her the next morning.

"I'm sure it is," Arthur said.

"Then why is she not answering?" After that was said, the door opened and they were met with a young brown-haired man. They stared at each other for a moment.

"I guess this is the wrong place after all. We're sorry for disturbing you," Arthur said, and turned to walk away.

"Wait—are you looking for Peri?" Molly and Arthur looked back at him, surprised.

"Yes. Is this her flat?" Molly asked.

"Yes, please come in. She's in the kitchen." He stepped aside to let them in and then closed the door. "I'm John, by the way."

"Arthur Weasley, and my wife, Molly," Arthur said, shaking hands with John.

-

I walked over to the kitchen doorway to see Molly and Arthur talking to John.

"Molly! Art'ur! What a surprise! Come sit down at t'e table, I was fixing breakfast. Do you want Coffee? Tea?" I said.

"Probably just a little spot of tea, dear. Let me help you," Molly said. She followed me back into the kitchen and we left the men to talk.

"What brings you two down 'ere?" I asked while beating eggs for an omelet as Molly made tea.

"We were worried, dear. What with the Ministry going around and the dead Muggles," Molly said. "By the way, how was it?"

"They just asked me questions and then left. It was fine," I said. "John was there, don't worry." I added when she didn't look convinced.

"John is your boyfriend, dear?" Molly asked. I nodded. "He seems nice. How long have you been dating?" I stopped to think.

"Well…we went out a few weeks ago and then work got in the way and then yesterday we went out together," I said. "My mother will be 'appy when I write. She's crazy for grandkids." Molly laughed.

"That's mothers for you," she said. I laughed.

"By the way, dear, are you doing anything today?" Molly asked suddenly.

"No, I didn't really 'ave anything planned. Why?" I asked.

"It's Remus's birthday today and we're planning a surprise party," Molly said. "A few of us are going to prepare for it and we needed someone to keep Remus away from Grimmauld until it's all set. Arthur's going to take him to this Muggle place but—" Molly's expression was uncertain.

"What type of Muggle place?" I asked.

"It's so bizarre—with big contraptions and all sorts of stuff that Muggles swing their selves around with!" It took me a moment to understand her, but when I did, I couldn't help but laugh.

"An amusement park?" I asked. Molly shrugged her shoulders.

"I'll never understand Muggles and their form of entertainment," she muttered. "I just hope Arthur doesn't go and get everyone killed!" I laughed aloud this time.

"Don't worry, Molly! I've been to amusement parks before, they're not really dangerous—unless someone vomits on you, but that's a different story—"

"Oh, Peri, dear…I hope it isn't asking too much…but could you go with Arthur and Remus? I'd feel a lot better if you would." Molly looked at me with pleading eyes.

"Sure, I'd love to go," I said.

"Thank you, dear," Molly said, looking a lot more relieved.

"Le petit déjeuner est prêt!" I said as Molly and I brought out the breakfast.

"Merci!" John said as I set a plate in front of him. I smiled at him.

"De rien." I turned to my visitors. "Are you sure you don't want anything other than tea?"

"We're fine, dear, we breakfasted earlier," Molly said. We had a pleasant morning, talking about the weather, Quidditch, and Ministry affairs.

"Well, thank you for the breakfast, darling, but I'm off to work now." John kissed me on the cheek and then Disapparated. I blushed and then turned back to the Weasley's.

"What time are we taking Remus to the amusement park, Art'ur?" I asked.

"Oh, so that's what you call them!" Arthur said. Molly rolled her eyes. "I was thinking three o' clock would give the decorating committee a head start."

"That sounds good," I said. Our conversation was interrupted by an ancient-looking owl that fluttered through the open kitchen window and landed on top of the croissants.

"Oh, goodness! I'm sorry Peri, Errol's getting too old for this."

-

"This is amazing!" Arthur said, gazing at a person in a pink bunny suit. "Is that thing REAL?"

"It's someone dressed up as a rabbit, Art'ur," I whispered, for some people were giving us strange looks.

"Oh. Right. So, which one of these metal things should we try first?" Arthur asked. Remus had been looking around while Arthur had been marvelling the pink bunny suit.

"This one looks mild enough," Remus said, pointing up at a simple hill roller coaster.

"Good choice!" I said, and we got in the queue waiting to go on.

"I haven't been to one of these places ever since I was really young," Remus said. "And even then, all I did was ride the carousel." It came time for us to get in separate lines according to which car we wished to ride in. Arthur got into a car and Remus and I got into the car behind it.

"This is so exciting!" Arthur said, practically jumping around in his seat. He said to the Muggle beside him, "Have you been flung about often?" The Muggle looked at him uncertainly.

"Ready for your first rollercoaster ride?" I asked, inciting some sort of conversation out of the mostly quiet man.

"As long as I don't fall out, I'm fine," Remus said. He blanched slightly, but other than that he was smiling. Soon the rollercoaster started making its way out of the station and up the incline.

"This is rather comfortable, don't you think?" Arthur asked his Muggle seatmate. The rollercoaster reached the top of the hill and paused for half a second before pushing over the top. Arthur and Remus were screaming their heads off along with the majority of the rest of the riders. I laughed and put my arms up. Remus reached over and pulled them back down.

"Are you mad!" he yelled over the chaos. He had gone even whiter in the face.

"It's alright, Remus we've got seat belts!" I yelled back. Soon after, the ride came to an end as the rollercoaster reached the station once more.

"That was wonderful!" Arthur yelled, jumping out.

"That was hilarious!" I yelled, laughing at the memory of Arthur and Remus yelling their heads off.

"That was insane!" Remus said, but he was smiling now and all color had returned to his face. "Let's do it again!"


	5. Chapter 5

We finally left the amusement park three hours, six roller coaster rides, and two churros later. We arrived at the doorstep of Grimmauld place in the middle of a discussion of whether roller-coasters or broomsticks were better.

"Doesn't matter, they both wear me out after a while," Remus said as Arthur knocked to gain entry. The door swung open but no one was there and we saw that it was darker than usual.

"That's odd," Arthur muttered. He cast a worried glance at Remus, who in turn did the same to me.

"I'll cover the front," Arthur said, pulling out his wand and muttering "_Lumos_."

"_Lumos_. I'll cover the left," Remus said. I in turn took out my wand, lit it and followed them through the hall, covering the right side. We had come upon the stairs when something caught our attention. Arthur shined his light and we breathed a sigh of relief when we saw it was only Kreacher. He saw us and immediately started insulting us under his breath.

"_Blood traitors, mutants, half-breeds infesting poor Mistress's house_," the elf muttered.

"Kreacher, where is everyone?" Remus asked.

"_The filthy mutant wer_—"

"Kreacher!" Arthur cut across the elf's muttering rather sharply. "Tell us!" Kreacher glared.

"Kreacher saw nothing." And with a crack, he was gone.

"Damn elf!" I put in. We continued up the stairs and went down the hall. It was eerily quiet. Then—

"What was that?" I hissed and spun around. The other two turned to me. "I heard something in the drawing room." I raised my wand and started to open the door but Remus moved me aside.

"No, I'll do it," he said, and opened the door slowly.

"SURPRISE!" A startled Remus stepped back into Arthur and me. The light in the drawing room came on and half the Order jumped out.

"What--" Remus's shocked face turned into an amused smile. "You mean you whole lot tricked me?"

"That's right, and you fell for it!" I said, laughing. "Happy Birthday, Remus!"

-

The clock was going on twelve and almost everyone had left. Tonks yawned and bowed out early, telling us that she had to work tomorrow. The Weasley's also retired early and soon it was only Remus, Sirius, and me left.

"So," Remus said, leaning back against the couch. "How'd you all manage to do all this?"

"Well, all we did was decorate while you were out and then Peri sent a Patronus to us before you got here so we got everything ready and hid in the drawing room," Sirius said. "Mad-Eye helped us out with his eye of his."

"Arthur and I had to improvise with the dark lights and all," I said. "We wouldn't have found you if you hadn't rapped on the wall."

"That was Mad-Eye. He chucked a paperweight when he saw you guys were going too far past." Sirius said. Remus chuckled.

"Is all this because I said I was too old for birthday parties?" he asked.

"Remus, the Order decided to go all out for your birthday because you give everything for the Order," Sirius said. Remus reddened slightly.

"Oh, come on, everyone else gives everything, too," Remus said.

"But not as much as you," Sirius insisted. I looked from Remus to Sirius.

"What type of stuff do you do for the Order, Remus?" I asked. Remus and Sirius looked at me, startled, like they had forgotten I was there.

"I…er…well…I--"

"Remus does the dangerous stuff," Sirius said. "Any dark exploding toilets, evil boggarts or whatever—"

"Sirius," Remus said, looking embarrassed and for some reason nervous.

"Remus, it's great that you do so much for the Order," I reassured him. He reddened considerably but we said nothing more of the matter.


End file.
